Process for treating cellulosic textile material for improving simultaneously its crease recovery and its abrasion and tear resistance properties



United States Patent ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A process is disclosed for imparting crease recovery properties along with high abrasion and tear resistance to cellulosic textile materials by first reacting the textile material with an ester of a dihalopropanol to form a pretreated material after which it is stretched to its original dimensions and reacted with a cross-linking agent, dried and heat-cured.

This invention relates to a process for treating cellulosic textile material to impart simultaneously high dry crease recovery, high wet crease recovery and high abrasion and tear resistance. By textile material, we mean yarns and fabrics containing cellulose fibres either natural or artificial, alone or as blends with themselves or with ,other noncellulosic fibres in various proportions. The

fabrics may be knit, woven or otherwise constructed materials.

It is well known that cellulosic materials such as those made of cotton and regenerated cell-uloses suffer from a serious disadvantage in that they wrinkle "badly on washing and drying or during wear. Literally hundreds of chemicals, compounds and resins, and processes for their application to cellulosic materials have been developed in the last 30 to 40 years and it has been possible to develop textile materials which are free from the defects mentioned above.

However, it is also well known and accepted that with all the known processes and compounds, it is impossible to obtain improvements in crease recovery without simultaneous reduction in tensile strength, tear strength and abrasion resistance.

Attempts have been made to minimise such losses in abrasion and tear resistance by the incorporation of polyethylene and polyvinyl alcohol during the resin treatment. However, even these additives are subject to serious shortcomings in that they do not react chemically with cellulose and hence are removed from the cellulosic textile material, on subsequent washing or dry cleaning. Thus, the improvement in abrasion and tear resistance obtained is lost after washing or dry cleaning.

It is thus clear that the hitherto known processes are open to the objection that while they impart one or two of the above-mentioned properties, none of these processes improve simultaneously all the properties mentioned above.

3,457,024 Patented July 22, 1969 The main object of the present invention is to evolve a process for treating cellulosic textile material which will simultaneously impart high dry crease recovery, high wet crease recovery and high abrasion and tear resistance to the treated material.

Another object of the invention is to overcome the defects normally associated with resin-finishing such as lack of durability and inferior handling.

Yet another object of the invention is to improve the wear-life of the cellulosic materials, so that the utility of the cotton to general public and armed services is enhanced.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a process which will impart to cellulosic textiles a wash wear property which will be free from the serious defects, in particular the losses in abrasion resistance, tear and tensile strength encountered in resin finishing. Nay actually it even seeks to improve on the original value of abrasion resistance and tear strength of the material to be treated. It is in this respect that the present invention is considered to be most significant.

We have found that:

(1) Simultaneous improvement in dry crease recovery, wet crease recovery and abrasion and tear resistance can be achieved if the treatment of a cellulosic textile material With a reactant finishing agent is preceded by reacting the material with an ester of 1:3-dihalopropanol- 2/1:2-dihalopropanol-3, the ester group having a chain length of not less than 8 carbon atoms, in the presence of aqueous alkali, the reactant finishing resin treatment 'being carried out under stretch conditions.

The term reactant finishing agents in this context include those substances that combine with the free hydroxyl groups in the repeating anhydroglucose groups in the cellulosic unit through covalent linkages and also those which combine with themselves to form polymeric lattices in situ.

The said reactant finishing agent may be selected from a group consisting of:

A. Formaldehyde or formaldehyde liberating agents.

B. Dialdehydes like glyoxal.

C. Acetals.

D. N-methylol compounds like dimethylol urea, tetramethylol acetylene diurea, 1:3-dimethylol 4:5-dihydroxy ethylene urea, dimethylol ethylene urea, methylol triazones, methylol urons, melamine formaldehyde or the like; and

E. Diepoxides like bisglycidyl ether.

(2) If the said treatment of the cellulosic textile material with the ester of 1:3-dihalopropanol-2/1:2dihalopropanol-3 is carried out in the slack condition prior to the resin treatment under stretch condition the abrasion resistance of the material is considerably improved, as compared to the sample which has merely been given a similar resin treatment.

(3) However, if the reaction of the cellulosic textile material with the ester of 1:3-dihalopropanol-2/1:2-dihalopropanol-3 is carried out in the slack condition and the subsequent resin treatment is also carried out without stretching, the abrasion resistance is not as much improved as in (2) above. These discoveries are exemplified in the table given below.

OF THE RESIN TREATMENT ON CASEMENI FABRIC (ALREADY REACIED WITH THE STEAROYL STER OF 1:3-DICHLOROPROPANOL-2) UNDER STRETCH AND SLACK CONDITIONS Crease Recovery as measured by TBL Method Flex Textile material Percent Percent Dry, Wet, abrasion and the treatment ester nitrogen Percent Percent cycles Sl. No. particulars combined found Wp+fil. Wp+fil. Wp+fil. Remarks 1 Desized casement fabric (original fab- 92. 56.0 2, 665

2 Desized casement fabric treated with 1.33 136. 109. 0 910 Marked decrease in abrasion resistance 6% tetramethylol acetylene diurea to about %rd of original fabric. dried and cured in its original dimension.

3 Dosized casement fabric treated with 1.07 88.8 40.8 54,561 Only abrasion resistance is improved 5% stearoyl ester of 1:3-dichloroprowithout simultaneous improvement panol-2 in presence of alkali in in dry and wet crease recovery. slack condition.

4 No. (3) above treated further with 6% 0. 988 136. 2 116.0 4, 958 Simultaneous improvement in dry and tetramethylol acetylene diurea, wet crease recovery as well as in drieitand cured under stretched abrasion resistance over original. con 1 ion.

5 No. (3) above treated with 6% tetra- 130. 5 85. 9 2, 628 The resin treatment in slack condition methylol acetylene diurea dried and cured under slack condition.

is not satisfactory.

Norm-The abrasion resistance refers to flex abrasion cycles determined on BFT Mark IV (A), a wear tester developed by Courtaulds Ltd. (Breens and Morton J. Soc. Dyers Col. 71, 513 (1955).

(4) If the reaction of the said textile material with the said ester in presence of aqueous alkali is carried out in stretched condition and after removing alkali is treated further with a resin under stretched condition the abrasion resistance of the thus treated ccllulosic material is 4007 cycles. Thus under this condition also,

ter first which is then followed by the reaction of the so treated ccllulosic material with reactant finishing agent. If the sequence is reversed, for instance, if the resin treatment is carried out first and is then followed by ester treatment, the crease recovery properties are adversely aifcctcd as shown in Table II (Sl. No. (2)).

TABLE IL-EFFECT OF REVERSAL OF THE RESIN TREATMENT ON PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF CASEMENT FABRIC Crease Recovery as measured by TBL Method Flex Dry, Wet, abrasion Textile material and the treatment percent percent cycles 81. No. particulars Wp-I-fil. Wp+fil. Wp+fi l. Remarks 1 Desized easement fabric already reacted 136. 2 116. 0 4, 958

with 5% stearoyl ester of 1:3-dichloropropanol-Z in slack condition is further treated with 6% tetramethylol acetylene diurea under stretched conditions. 2 Desized casement fabric already reacted 100.0 70. 7 19, 891 Reversal of the treatement results in the with 6% tetramethylol acetylene diurea is treated further with 5% stearoyl ester of 1:3'dichloropropanol-2.

lowering of dry crease recovery, wet crease recovery though it improves resistance over (1) above.

the abrasion resistance is considerably improved but is lower than that (4958 cycles) obtained under conditions described at (2) above. Thus the conditions of treatment at (2) are generally preferred for optimum improvement. However, the stretching of the cellulosic textile material can be carried out after its reaction with the ester or during the reactant finishing agent treatment.

(5) It is important however, that in order to achieve (6) Also, while following the recommended sequence of processing, if the cellulosic textile material is treated with 20% of the ester as to fix above 2.0% of the ester which is outside the preferred range and then further treated with reactant finishing agent in the stretched condition, the said textile material again has low dry crease recovery, low wet crease recovery, though high abrasion resistance, as exemplified in Table III (Sl. No. (2)).

TABLE III.DIFFERENTIAL EFFECT OF INCREASE IN THE AMOUNT OF COMBINED ESTER OF 1:3'DICHLOROPROPANOL-2 ON DRY GREASE RECOVERY, WET GREASE RECOVERY AND ABRASION RESISTANCE Crease Recovery as Measured by TBL Method Flex Percent Dry, Wet, abrasion Textile material and the treatment ester percent percent cycles 81. No. particulars combined Wp+fil. Wp+fil. Wp+fil. Remarks 1 Desized casement fabric is reacted with 5% 1. 07 136. 2 116.0 4, 948

stearoyl ester of 1:3-dichloropropanol-2 in slack condition and treatedfurther with 6% tetramethylol acetylene diurea under stretch condition. 2 Desized casement fabric reacted with 20% 3. 45 119.7 85.2 14,537 Dry and Wet crease recoveries are lowered stearoyl ester of 1:3-dichloropropanol-2 in slack condition and treated further with 6% tetramethylol acetylene diurea under stretch condition.

though the abrasion resistance is improved.

the simultaneous improvement in dry crease-recovery,

wet crease recovery, and abrasion and tear resistance, the reaction of the said ester with the said cellulosic textile material and the reaction with the reactant finishing agent should necessarily be carried out in successive stages viz.

the reaction of the ccllulosic textile material with the es- 7 dry crease recovery, high wet crease recovery and high abrasion and tear resistance and that deviations in terms of the ester concentration, slack and stretch condition of treatment or the sequence of treatment, will be unsatisfactory in imparting simultaneously all the four properties to optimum advantage.

Accordingly, the invented process for treating cellulosic textile material consists in reacting cellulosic textile material with an ester of 1:3-dihalo-propanol-2/ 1:2-dihalopropanol-3, the ester group having a chain length of not less than 8 carbon atoms, in presence of aqueous alkali and treating the so-treated cellulosic textile material with a reactant finishing agent which is characterized in that the said subsequent treatment with the reactant finishing agent is done in the stretched condition, whereby simultaneously high dry crease recovery, high wet crease recovery and high abrasion and tear resistance are imparted to the said material.

The said treatment of the cellulosic textile material with the ester is preferably carried out in the slack condition of the textile material and reacted in the presence of alkali to fix 0.8 to 2% of the said ester on the bone dry weight of the cellulosic textile material. The application of the said ester to the cellulosic textile material is carried out in solutions or aqueous emulsions.

The ester used in this treatment is a derivative of 1:3-diha-lopropanol-2/ 1:2-dihalopropanol-3 wherein the halogen atoms comprise of chlorine, bromine, iodine. fluorine or a combination of these. The alkaline catalyst required in the reaction of the ester of 1:3-dihalopropanol- 2/ 1:2-dihalo-propanol-3 with the cellulosic textile material comprises of sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, sodium Zincate, sodium aluminate or a mixture thereof. The concentration of alkali or alkaline agent used during the reaction of the ester with the cellulosic textile material is between 530% weight by weight.

The cellulosic textile material is reacted with an ester of 1:3-dichloropropanol 2/ 1 :2 dichloropropanol-3, the ester group preferably having a chain length of 14-18 carbon atoms. Reaction of the said ester with the cellulosic textile material is carried out in the presence of 18-20% aqueous caustic soda solution in slack condition, and the thus reacted cellulosic textile material is washed free of alkali and further reacted with the reactant finishing agent with or Without prior drying. During the washing off of the alkali or during any of the subsequent operations, the cellulosic textile material is stretched nearly to its original dimensions.

The reactant finishing agent applied is within the range of 3 to 15% of the cellulosic textile material. The reactant finishing agent used along with acid or acid liberating catalyst in the re-treatment of the cellulosic textile material treated earlier with the said ester consists of the following:

(1) Formaldehyde or formaldehyde liberating compounds;

(2) Dialdehydes like glyoxal;

(3) Acetals;

(4) N-methylol compounds like dimethylol urea, tetramethylol acetylene diurea, 1:3-dimethylol 4:5-dihydroxy ethylene urea, dimethylol ethylene urea, methylol triazones, methylol urons, melamine formaldehyde or the like; and

(5) Diepoxides like diglycidyl ether.

The cellulosic textile material after reaction with the ester, is dried and treated with a 5 to reactant finishing agent solution containing an acid-liberating catalyst, stretched nearly to its original dimensions (if it had not been done earlier), dried at 80 C. and cured at 150 C. for 3 to 5 minutes.

The following are the advantages secured by the invention:

(1) The invented process imparts simultaneous improvement in dry crease recovery, wet crease recovery and abrasion and tear resistance to cellulosic textile materials.

(2) The process imparts abrasion resistance to textile material which is equal or higher than that of the starting textile material whereas the normal resin finishing treatment brings down the abrasion resistance to less than half of that of the starting material.

(3) The handle of thus treated textile is softer as compared with that of the normal resin finished textiles.

(4) The whiteness of the cellulosic textile material treated by the invented process is superior to that of the normally resin finished textiles.

In order to more fully illustrate the invention the following examples are given.

EXAMPLE I 600 grams of a carbon tetrachloride solution containing 19.38 grams of the stearoyl ester of 1:3-dichloropropanol-2 was prepared. A 15" x 18" casement fabric with a thread count 55 x 46 and weighing 5.6 oz. per sq. yard (bleached and unmercerised) was padded through the solution so as to apply a 155% wet pick up. Thereafter, the fabric was dried to remove the solvent and padded through an aqueous solution of caustic soda 20% (weight/weight), as to apply 140% wet pick-up. The amount of the stearoyl ester of 1:3-dichloro-propanol-2 applied to the cloth was 5% calculated on the bone dry weight of the fabric. After padding through the alkali solution the fabric was wrapped in polyethylene sheet and kept for 24 hours free from contact with air. It was then washed with water until free of alkali, soured with 2% acetic acid solution and washed with water, dried in slack condition at room temperatures 25-28 C. These samples were then washed with alcohol and ether until free from the loosely held matter and dried. At the end of this treatment the samples showed a shrinkage of 17.5% along warp and 9.0% along weft.

Thereafter it was padded through 300 cc. of aqueous solution containing 22.5 grams of tetramethylol acetylene di-urea and 1.25 grams of ammonium nitrate, so as to apply wet pick-up. It was then stretched on pinframes to its original dimensions, dried at -90 C. for 10 minutes and cured at -145" C. for 5 minutes under tension. The samples were then washed with water, soaped in the usual manner and dried. The dried samples showed a shrinkage of 5.0% along warp and no shrinkage along weft calculated on the basis of original dimensions.

The results of the treatment as given below in Table IV, show that the sample treated as above possesses a dry crease recovery of 136.2, wet crease recovery of 116.0 flex abrasion cycles 4958, and tear strength 20.26 inch pound as against corresponding values of 92.0, 56.0, 26.65 and 28.99 for untreated fabric and 136.5, 109.6, 910 and 14.46 for fabric topped with resin.

EXAMPLE II In this case the treatment of the casement fabric was similar to Example I except that the treatment with the stearoyl ester of 1:3-dichloro-propanol-2 as well as caustic soda solution was omitted and only the resin was applied to the original fabric.

The results of this application will be reported in Table 'IV set forth herein below:

EXAMPLE III In this case the treatment of the casement fabric was similar to Example I except that the drying and curing of the tetramethylol acetylene di-urea treated fabric (which was pretreated with the stearoyl ester of 1:3-dichloropropanol-Z) was done in slack condition (instead of in the stretched condition set out in Example I).

TABLE IV perature under stretched condition and tested as mentioned in Example III. ggggfggggyggf, The results of this application are reported in Table VI herein below:

Dry, Wet, Flex Impact perceng percentti ebraiioq (fintear; 5 warp an warp an eye es, ing

percent percent warp and inc TAB LE VI Application filling filling filling pounds Crease recovery as Example (1) 136. 2 116. 4, 958 20. 20 measured by TBL Method Example (2) 136. 109.0 010 14. 40 Flex abra- Example (3) 130.5 85.9 2, G28 Dry, per- Wot,porsiou cycles, Control (Untreated cent warp cent warp warp and fabric) 92.0 56.0 2, 665 28. 99 Application and filling and filling lilllng 1 Flex abrasion cycles of the samples was taken on the BFT Example 5 100 70.7 19, 891 snark IV (A) a. wear tester (developed by Courtaulds Ltd.) Example 1 136. 1 0 4,953

by putting 2 lbs. weight (Le. giving a Stirr-up tension of 4 lbs.) and 4 lbs. dead Weight. These samples were extracted with benzene in soxhlet for 8 hours, and were conditioned to 65% humidity at room temperature prior to testing.

Impact tear was measured on SRI Impact Tear Tester. ('S.R. R-anganatllan et al., p. 67, th, All India Textile Conference Souvenir, January 1958.)

The above results indicate the importance of the invention in that, simultaneously high dry crease recovery, high wet crease recovery and high abrasion resistance are imparted to the textile by following the procedure, as claimed 1n claim No. 1 and as indicated in Example I. The tear strength of the fabric treated as per the specification (Example I) is higher as compared to that of the fabric treated by known knowledge (Example II).

EXAMPLE IV In this case the treatment of the casement fabric was similar to Example I, except that the treatment with the stearoyl ester of 1:3-dichloro-propanol-2 was done with instead of 5% as in the case of Example I.

The results of this application are reported in Table V herein below. The testing of the sample was done according to the procedure mentioned in Example III.

The results indicated that the application of the stearoyl ester of 1:3-dichloro-propanol-2 in critical concentrations to cellulosic textile material is important in imparting high dry crease recovery, high wet crease recovery and high abrasion resistance as claimed in claim 1 and as indicated in Example 1.

EXAMPLE V 300 cc. of aqueous solution containing 22.5 grams (tctramethylol acetylene di-urea) was prepared and 1.125 grams of ammonium nitrate was added to the solution as catalyst 15" x 18" casement fabric with a thread count 55 x 46 and weighing 5.6 oz. per square yard (bleached and unmercerised) was padded through the solution so as to apply 80% wet pick up. Thereafter the treated fabric was stretched to its original dimensions dried at 8590 C. for 10 minutes and cured at 140l45 C. for 5 minutes and washed with soap solution to remove loosely held matter, rinsed with water and dried.

The above treated fabric was padded through 600 grams of carbon tetrachloride solution containing 19.38 grams of stearoyl ester So as to apply 155% wet pick up. Thereafter it was dried to remove the solvent and padded through the aqueous solution of caustic soda 20% weight/weight, so as to apply 140% wet pick up. It was then stretched to original dimensions on a pin frame and kept for 24 hours free from contact with air. At the end of 24 hours, the fabric was washed with water under stretched condition until free of alkali and soured with 2% acetic acid, washed with water and dried at room tem- The results indicate that reversal of the treatment procedure does not impart the desired properties, namely high dry crease recovery and high wet crease recovery.

What we claim is:

1. A process for imparting dry and wet crease recovery properties along with high abrasion and tear resistance to cellulosic textile materials comprising the steps of:

(a) reacting a cellulosic textile material with an ester of a dihalopropanol taken from the group consisting of 1:3 -dihalopropanol 2 or 1:2-dihalopropanol-3 wherein the ester group contains no less than eight carbon atoms in a liquid medium in the presence of an alkaline swelling agent for said cellulose, the quantity of said ester in said liquid medium being that which is sufficient to affix on said material an amount of ester ranging between about 0.8 and 2 percent by weight of said material on a dry basis;

(b) removing said alkaline swelling agent from said material to form a pretreated material;

(c) strethcing said pretreated material to impart to it dimensions which are essentially equivalent to those of the material prior to step (a) and reacting said stretched pretreated material with a different reactant finishing agent capable of cross-linking said cellulose; and

(d) drying said material and heat curing said reactant finishing agent in the presence of a catalyst.

2. A process in accordance with claim 1 wherein said ester contains between 14 and 18 carbon atoms.

3. A process in accordance with claim 1 wherein said swelling agent is an aqueous liquid containing an alkaline material present in a concentration range between about 5 and 30 percent by Weight.

4. A process in accordance with claim 1 wherein the amount of said reactant finishing agent deposited on said material ranges between about 3 and 15 percent by weight of said material.

5. A process in accordance with claim 1 wherein said liquid medium is a solvent for said ester.

6. A process in accordance with claim 1 wherein said liquid medium is water containing said ester in the form of an aqueous emulsion.

7. A process in accordance with claim 1 wherein said reacting with said ester is continued in essentially an airfree atmosphere for an extended period of time.

8. A process in accordance with claim 1 wherein said reactant finishing agent is selected from the group consisting of formaldehyde, formaldehyde-liberating compounds, dialdehydes, acetals, dimethylol urea, tetramethylol acetylene diurea, 1:3-dimethylol-4:S-dihydroxy ethylene urea, dimethylol ethylene urea, methylol triazones, methylol urons, melamine formaldehyde and diepoxides.

9. A cellulosic textile material having improved dry and wet crease recovery and high abrasion and tear resistance comprising the reaction product formed under alkaline-conditions between the cellulosic textile material and at least one ester of a dihalopropanol having an ester group of at least 8 carbon atoms and present in an amount 9 between 0.8 and 2 percent calculated on the dry weight of said cellulosic textile material, at least a portion of said reaction product being cross-linked by a difierent chemically active finishing agent.

10. A cellulosic textile material in accordance with claim 9 wherein the cross-linking agent is present in an amount from about 3 to 15 percent by weight of said material.

11. A cellulosic textile material in accordance with claim 9 wherein said ester is selected from the group consisting of the lauroyl, stearoyl, myristoyl and palmitoyl esters of 1:3-dichlor0pr0panol-2 and 1:2-dichloropropanol-3.

10 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,175,874 3/1965 Gagarine 8115.6

FOREIGN PATENTS 79,882 2/1963 India.

NORMAN G. 'I'ORCHIN, Primary Examiner 10 J. CANNON, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

